Advantages of Bitcoin over traditional payment systems

[yndye]

I often meet newbies and try to explain to them what makes Bitcoin special. I am trying to compile a list of advantages of Bitcoin.

Is there anything anybody feels I should add to the list below?

Also I think its better to keep to concrete, succinct,  advantages. Not what might be considered wishy washy hype about how it will 'help bring sub-saharan Africans out of poverty by allowing them to purchase goats with Bitcoin".

Some of the reasons which I currently state:

-It allows you to have full control of your money, nobody can take away your money.

-It is not controlled by anyone. Its a decentralised peer-to-peer network. Based on open source software. This means it can not be manipulated, Bitcoin supply is fixed modelling it after gold. Nobody can stop or prevent transactions.

-It has low fees compared to other online payment methods like paypal, credit cards etc.

-It is truly global.

-It is programmable money that allows for smart contracts.

-Anybody including kids from their basement, can create financial applications without permission. This is because its open source technology and the network is not controlled by anybody. Nobody needs to ask permission to use it and nobody can restrict access. If you have access to the internet you can access it.

-It is pseudo anonymous and with some extra effort it can be very close to anonymous. You need sophisticated state actors using significant resources to de-anonymise if somebody takes extra effort.

-It is less hackable then traditional payment systems because it is a push system. That means you dont provide your 'secret keys' to receiver/merchant when you make a payment, unlike with credit cards.

You pretty much summarize the advantages of it so I will just add that since it can be access by anyone then for those people who cannot open bank accounts because of the lack of supporting documents will now have opportunity to store their money without the need of those documents as long as they have internet connection. Yes there is a risk that their money will drop in value because of the fluctuation of prices but the advantage of it is that they will be able to keep their money somewhere wherein they would not be able to spend it immediately whenever they have impulse in buying something that they don't actually need compared to just storing the money in their wallet which is more likely to be spent immediately and in the end they would not be able to save.

[danielW]

All of those things are great...if you're computer savvy, which most people are not and never will be.  And to that population, fiat is so much easier to use and so much more available that there's no true need for bitcoin.  I do wish you luck in proselytizing, because bitcoin needs pumpers out there.  I just think if you're trying to convince Joe Blow on the street that he needs to use this funky internet currency, he'll laugh in your face.  Anonymity is big, but a lot of people don't care about that.

Its not necessarily about pumping or proselytizing. Some people are interested in Bitcoin and want me to explain it to them seeing as to them I am a 'Bitcoin expert'. For such situations I want to be prepared by having a good explanation of its advantages.


Anyhow I think there were some good suggestions here. I will rewrite my op and post update next week.

[buxlover]

There are many advantages of using bitcoin as a payment, But the main disadvantage i look and also afraid is trust. Only way to buy something through bitcoin is we have to trust the seller or use an escrow (again have to trust escrow). So buying something from a newly launched store or service is always a risk.

Even establish stores and services can cheat the buyers, If that happened buyers cant do anything else rather shout scam scam everywhere.

So non-traceable, anonymous, decentralized most of the times scary for buyers.

But in point of sellers that's an advantage, buyers can't scam them or ask for charge back etc...

[clickerz]

there is many advantages of bitcoin transaction specially for heavy amount because.

• it's safe and secure than traditional bank system
• it's anonymous, no one will know to whom you have paid money
• it's faster and transaction fee is much lesser then bank system

Agree, its really fast compared to other means in my opinion and its a cheapest way to send payments. Also, its safe and I may add that it is more convenient also to use bitcoin as a payment mode.

[ekoice]

See, if you buy anything using traditional payments, you have to give your personal details.The government could easily track your earnings and levy taxes. But in Bitcoins, there is no need to give any personal details.

[yayayo]

There are many advantages of using bitcoin as a payment, But the main disadvantage i look and also afraid is trust. Only way to buy something through bitcoin is we have to trust the seller or use an escrow (again have to trust escrow). So buying something from a newly launched store or service is always a risk.

Even establish stores and services can cheat the buyers, If that happened buyers cant do anything else rather shout scam scam everywhere.

So non-traceable, anonymous, decentralized most of the times scary for buyers.

But in point of sellers that's an advantage, buyers can't scam them or ask for charge back etc...

It's only scary for buyers that are accustomed to be pampered by fake buyer protection policies of big online stores. In the real world however, you can still get scammed easily even when using Painpal or bank transfer. As a sane individual and customer, you will always have to check, if your contracting party is trustworthy and reliable. Chargebacks are not a solution against scams - in fact they open the door for new types of scams (for example pretending of not having received an item...).

I think you're greatly exaggerating the real risk of getting scammed by ordinary businesses. Maybe you're falling for the Painpal propaganda, that use fear of getting scammed as a justification to use their scammy (= account freezing) service. I've been buying products from online shops since years and never had any problem that wasn't resolved quickly via simply talking with the seller.

ya.ya.yo!

[harizen]

See, if you buy anything using traditional payments, you have to give your personal details.The government could easily track your earnings and levy taxes. But in Bitcoins, there is no need to give any personal details.

It was just for payments how they can monitor the earnings? Also this practice is present up to today, does it hurt harder in most of the cases?

And besides, a legit store that offers payment windows must follow the rules about money transactions law so it's a must if they at least know some of the personal details of the customers.

[Fatanut]

The main advantage of Bitcoin is the time, effort, and fee. With just a few clicks and some keyboard action, you can send money to the other side of the world. The time that it will be there is just a few minutes. The fee is also almost zero, in some websites, the fee really is zero. In blockchain, there's a few cents fee but that's not much considering how many advantages that you get.

[groll]

I could not think of anything because all you have listed were good and true to the nature of bitcoin.  Maybe I could just give an example of how bitcoin works in our country.  Here, our bitcoin wallet allows us to make a deposit to banks then for just a moment you already have the money on your wallet.  You can convert it to bitcoin automatically.   To it you can buy loads, pay your bills, your loans, contribution to your retirement, and even school tuition fees.  All can be done through it in just a fraction of time.  Hassle free transaction with no to a minimal fee.

[requester]

Yes bitcoin have lot of advantages over traditional bank system.

• bitcoin transaction is secure
• bitcoin transaction is faster
• transaction fees in bitcoin it's very less that is agonist negligible

[genos]

Yes bitcoin have lot of advantages over traditional bank system.

• bitcoin transaction is secure
• bitcoin transaction is faster
• transaction fees in bitcoin it's very less that is agonist negligible

That is the advantages if you use creditcard for payment. But fiat is free way to use, it faster if doing hand to hand but it is not so pratically becouse fiat cannot divided until 8 decimal. In this case bitcoin is the winner.

[Invoker699]

Advantage of bitcoin tramsaction in terms over traditional banks is it is faster than traditional banks and secured but disadvantage is it is sometimes too slow and got delayed

[noictib]

i think some important heading missed .
you should add following advantages

1) we can trade with Bitcoin at local and also globally
2) we can buy every altcoin with Bitcoin .
3) better option to save like gold .
4) no taxation .